VN V6 Calais Cranks Over But After Half A Turn Or So It Slows Cranking And Stops

[VNCalais3800]

Hi all,
I have a S1 VN V6 Calais that will crank over but after a quarter or half a turn it slows cranking and completely stops, i have tested the aldl via bridging the earth and test terminals and that displayed 1 flash pause 2 flash =12 everything ok.
Battery has been charged and voltage is roughly reading 13v.
The starter motor has no ticking or unusual noise coming from it when it is cranked.
Fuel is getting to the injectors and i noticed the fuel return line had a lot of pressure in it, i re-leaved the fuel return line to no benefit. If the fuel return line was blocked would that make an engine hard to crank over.Any ideas on what might be wrong would be much appreciated.

[hi_ryder]

the fuel system makes no difference to how the engine should turn over. with no spark or fuel you shouldnt have this problem. id be checking your starter motor wires ect maybe your starter is stuffed. did you try tapping it with hammer or a rod of some sort see if that makes a difference. if so get a fresh starter...

[Warranty Void]

If your starter has stuffed brushes you can get this kind of thing happening. Try pulling the spark plugs to drop the compression and see if it'll spin over without the drag on it. Or you can connect straight to the starter with jumper cables, just get the polarity right.

[VNCalais3800]

thanks for the responses
firstly i shorted out the starter motor, to me it seemed fine a constant winding sort of buzz noise (the engine or pulleys did not move when i did this).
secondly i gave the starter a bit of a hit, that made no noticeable difference.
thirdly i removed all the spark plugs and cranked the engine over and it did continue to turn through its normal rotating cycle (fuel come out the spark plug holes).
just throwing something out there if the fuel regulator is stuffed would there be any chance of more fuel getting through the injectors then what is required and if that is the case would to much fuel getting into an engine would that make it stop cranking half way around, like to much fuel in a small area creating to much compression.

[hi_ryder]

i have vp calais and when the "press remote" light blinks on the gauge cluster it means the fuel pump is shut off. still got your override lock key? go in the glove box and shut it off that will shut off your fuel pump.... no need to take out your spark plugs... even when my fuel pump is shut off it makes no difference to how the engine turns over. if the engine is having problems turning over its either the starter motor or the power getting to the starter motor or crazy ford gnomes got into your ignition barrel and ate the wires behind it.... ok so you "sorted" out the starter motor or "shorted" it out. the engine is turning over now but wont start? and this buzzing noise your hearing or heard sure wasn't your fuel pump buzzing? just wondering... my fuel pump is hella noisy... and DUDE be careful ####in around with your spark plugs out and live electricity either from your battery or from a jumper pack, another member on here sabbathSS was burnt pretty bad. think spark off a screw driver wile he was doing his fuel filter under his car. last thing you want is a burnt up vn or worse a trip to the burn unit... had another mate who had an engine fire recently in his LC torana drag car, he has his extinguisher handy so it was salvageable, just a big setback...

[308vkcalais]

Dunno if sumbody mentioned it but do a compression test.......

[monkeys437]

Dunno if sumbody mentioned it but do a compression test.......

Can he do that if its not cranking over?

[Brett_jjj]

It could be a leaking or blown head gasket thats leaking coolant into the cylinder(s).This will cause the engine to stop rotating when you try to crank it as the coolant cant be compressed by the piston.The engine will turn a bit,but then stop as the piston comes up near top dead centre on the compression stroke trying to compress the leaked coolant.Id take the spark plugs out and see how it winds over then,if it winds over ok with no plugs in it,then do a compression test to check for any blown or leaking gaskets.Its also a good idea to get the cooling system pressure tested as well as doing the compression test on the engine..Also have a good look at the spark plugs,their condition and colour can indicate if theres a problem with the particular cylinder it came from..
Another thing to remember is that a blown or leaking head gasket does not always cause the engine oil to become contaminated with coolant.(by contamination I mean the whitish gluggy goo that the engine oil turns into when mixed with coolant).It just depends on where the gasket is leaking or blown out as to whether this happens or not....

[VNCalais3800]

thankyou heaps yous are more then helpful.
Post #5 - at the time i shorted the starter out but now i have sorted the starter out.
I just pulled the fuel relay out to see if less fuel would start it but that did not work either. Never received an override key when i purchased it 6 years back.
Crazy ford gnomes they never know when to give up.
I had only just discovered the fuel line that i thought was the return line is in fact the fuel sender line, my mistake.
Yes we must all be very cautious when dealing with fuel, spark, and the like.
Slightly off subject i remember one of my first motos i owned, i poured a bit fuel down the spark plug hole gave it a kick over to see if there was any spark, it sparked and jumped from the spark plug to the engine block and managed to catch on fire with the fuel that i spilled (that moto was an old banger and was really rough on starting and i was not very cautious when i poured the fuel in the spark plug hole). That moto got moderately scalded on one side i was fine copped a bit of leg hair singeing nothing major.
Has any one ever heard of electric current running through the coolant, i heard this somewhere and thought it was quite strange but is that possible?.
I have them 4 prong spark plugs in it, i think they are called iridium or platinum or something like that. When i removed the plugs they looked considerably clean, they have only done 5000ks or so same with the leads and coil pack.
Post #6 & 7 - Id like to think i know what that involves, but sadly im unfamiliar with the process of compression tests.
Post #8 - To my knowledge i have never ever seen this VN temp gauge move... no the needle is not stuck and yes it has coolant in it with no leaks and a working thermostat. I honestly cant remember ever giving it a top up with coolant or water however i often unscrew the overflow bottle cap due to a non see through overflow bottle and have never seen an oily film or milky colored coolant in there, if it was a gasket wouldn't it loose coolant.
I swapped out the fuel regulator before id realized which fuel line was which, most likely did nothing. I gave the return fuel line a blow out with the air compressor all clear there, re-installed the plugs and leads in the correct firing order, it fired up without hesitation was very sluggish at start and after a minute or so it was running smoother then ever.
All in all this was somehow an easy fix, not exactly sure what fixed the half a crank stuff.

[308vkcalais]

Eldest son did an engine & box change & was trying in vain to start nother V6 & T5 in his VN Ser 1.He did exactly the same thing.Had the fuel lines mixed up.Swapped them over it went straight away but unfortunately it had a blown head gasket..So there was the usual dummy spit...